So I finally am starting my wooden case. At first, I did want to make a quite large case that could accomodate 2 triple rads and lot of stuff, but I probably would not end up watercooling my gaming build anytime soon. So instead, I'll make a mATX case for my server.

As this is going to be the very first time I build some... wooden "thing", I'll try to keep the design quite simple and i'll use the backplate of another case. I was using a old Acer PC as my file/web server up to now. I'll keep the parts of this build and get decent (and reliable -.-) pieces later on for this server.

I'll keep the CPU by the way, (AMD Athlon X2 64 4200+) the DVD Drive and I have a few hard drive laying around.
-At the moment, I'm using an -old- 80Gb IDE drive for the O/S. (Ubuntu) I'll replace it with a 250 Gb WD Caviar Blue laying around. I'll probably raid my 2 500Gb 7200.11's, I'll get 2 Tb drives when the prices go under $100. (probably when drives with the 640Gb platters massively hit the market) Anyway, I don't need much space now. The server will be used for my data backups and to stream media.

So I think that's about it. I started to take apart my Acer case to get the back plate out. At first I thought to also get the "crossbars" which the motherboard screws are on, but decided not to.

As you can see, this is pretty badly designed. It's impossible to insert hard drives in the 3 upper bays without removing the fan on the heatsink. If there was high end RAM with heatspreaders (Ripjaws, Dominators, Reapers.. ) It would also be impossible to insert a drive without removing all the RAM.

That's about it for now. I'll remove the rivets I need to later on today or tomorrow so I can pull off the backplate. I got a week off before starting my new job so I'dd expect to be almost done by then hopefully -.- I'll try to complete my plan today/tomorrow so I can start building on monday.

Once the case is done, I'll look for some (used) stuff
-AM2 mATX Mb with 6 sata ports + gigabit ethernet. (Mine have 10/100, sucks for backup..) + onboard video. Mine somehow got his onboard video screwed so I gotta use my 8500Gt.
-Decent ram, I don't trust Acer's ram, yet it hasn't failed me yet,but I want this pc to be somehow reliable.
-raid card? not sure yet if i'll get one, I know it would be prefereble, but this is meant to be a low budget build.
-a PSU. The PSU in the Acer was of an unknow brand, this probably can blow up anytime soon when running 24/7 -.- I'm surprised it havn't yet.

And i'll use my spare 120mm Yate Loon's, I think I still have 6-7 laying around.

You must be kidding me
I start building my own wood case this week-end to put my computer in it, a acer ase380 AMD Athlon X2 64 4200+
I have it since 3 or 4 years, the only thing i have change is the psu, the video card, and a 2tb caviar green.